Pinterest recently shared Q1 numbers.
And news are positive: a growing user base, revenue, and even stock price.
With that in mind, we began to wonder… should we start pinning some hopes on Pinterest ads this year?
Well, that’s what we’ll try to find out in this Data Story.
🖱️📈 Clicking on each individual chart will take you to its interactive board.
Pinterest users keep growing
“We are so back.” — Pinterest, probably.
Since the pandemic ended, the number of active Pinterest users declined, then flatlined for a while.
But in the past year, the growth curve is trending the best way possible:
The last quarter was also an important milestone—Pinterest passed 500M active users.
Which indicates that Pinterest gained momentum and is making users actively engage with the platform, possibly boosted by new, experimental generative AI features.
But first, let’s see where all these users come from:
The US is leading the frontlines with almost 90M Pinterest users.
There are also plenty of users in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, as well as most of Europe.
But slow growth in the US (3% year-over-year) is not good: According to Pinterest’s’ latest earnings report, the highest average revenue per user ($6) comes from US & Canada.
To put into perspective, the second-best revenue per user comes from Europe—$0.86.
Which tells us that US and Canada aren’t just a crucial market for the platform, but also the most profitable market to target for vendors and advertisers.
Do Pinterest ads work?
That’s a tricky one.
If you ask an advertiser whose campaigns do well, they’ll say Pinterest ads work. And vice-versa. Like with every platform.
However, we can measure whether advertisers are willing to pay to advertise on Pinterest.
And according to data, they are:
Since 2017, Pinterest has seen big gains when it comes to ad revenue, growing 6x until 2022. And is projected to grow even more in the coming years.
Going by that data alone, you can tell ads definitely work for many advertisers.
But let’s see what users think about ads:
Reports say that Pinterest users are less averse to social media ads.
They also appear to engage more with ads and prefer seeing real people in promotions.
Might be something to note for your next Pinterest campaigns.
🌐 Expanded network: In February 2024, Pinterest and Google struck a deal which allows Pinterest to host Google Ads. This is the second huge ad network that partnered with Pinterest, Amazon being the first. Meaning, more opportunities for you as well.
Who’s spending time on Pinterest?
That’s easy.
Out of all platforms, Pinterest seems to have a clear user base. It’s a women’s club:
Yes, there’s a third of non-female users on the platform, but if your target audience is female—you can’t go wrong with Pinterest.
When it comes to age, it’s a little bit trickier:
From 2020 to 2024, it appears that the audience aged 18-34 grew, while the 55+ declined.
But at the moment, it doesn’t seem like there’s a big difference between different age groups, so—unlike gender—your campaigns will require more specific age targeting.
📌 Zoomers flocking to pins: According to Pinterest, Gen Z is the fastest-growing age group—which could be an interesting demographic to target with your campaigns.
Oh and if you want to know more, we’ve done a Data Story just like this one, but about Gen Z. Take a look.
What content do Pinterest users want?
In a recent interview, Pinterest’s Australian country manager said something interesting:
“On Pinterest, ads are seen as content. What we’re seeing in Australia is our users save ad content, because they are ideas and it’s absolutely relevant.”
– Melinda Petrunoff, Australian country manager at Pinterest
And we’ve seen in one of the charts above that they love product recommendations and seeing other people in ads—and possibly other content.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that the popularity of user-generated content (UGC) is growing:
UGC appears to be much more present than just 4 years ago.
Going by that, it makes sense for you to try influencer marketing or at least include real people in your Pinterest ads.
What are Pinterest users planning to spend their money on?
If you’re advertising something on Pinterest, it better be something its users are willing to spend on.
And here’s a little overview:
Clothing sticks out the most. Meaning that Pinners are more willing to splash the cash on fashion compared to the general population. Apparel brands, take note.
Snacks and home products come joint second.
What does it mean? Don’t take our word for it, but this data may tell us that non-essentials are doing pretty well on a platform like Pinterest.
It helps that users often come to the platform to get inspired.
You can cater to those wishes with creative, inspiring content, quality product shots in a lifestyle environment, and the inclusion of real people in your promotions.
That might be a good start.
Pinning hopes on Pinterest ads
What’s the verdict? As with everything online marketing related—it depends.
Given Pinterest’s user growth—especially among women and younger demographics, and high engagement with ads—it appears to be a promising platform.
You’ll still have to make sure your campaigns are inspiring, heavily targeted, and if possible, include shots or videos of real people—Pinners love it.
Finally, if you’re advertising a non-essential product, this could be your golden platform.
Let us know your results!
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